HOOVER, Ala. — Mississippi State baseball arrived at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium needing wins to boost its hopes of hosting an NCAA regional.

Playing against an SEC tournament field stacked with teams ranked high in the RPI – a metric used by the selection committee to form the NCAA Tournament field – a plethora of opportunities to improve their resume awaited the Bulldogs if they could get past rival and No. 12 seed Ole Miss on Tuesday.

They did, winning in walk-off fashion thanks to a two-run home run from Connor Hujsak. It set up No. 5 seed Mississippi State with a second-round matchup against No. 4 seed Texas A&M on Wednesday. Against the Aggies, the nation’s top-rated team in the RPI, the Bulldogs prevailed behind another clutch hit from Hujsak.

Facing an 0-2 count in the top of the ninth inning against All-SEC relief pitcher Evan Aschenbeck, Hujsak hit a two-run single into center to give Mississippi State a 5-3 win.

Mississippi State (38-19) advances into the winner’s bracket where it will face No. 8 seed Vanderbilt (37-20) on Thursday (8 p.m., SEC Network).

David Mershon’s blast highlights early start for Bulldogs

It took Mississippi State 26 outs to score its first runs of the conference tournament against Ole Miss. The Bulldogs wasted little time getting on the scoreboard against Texas A&M (44-12), though.

MSU jumped ahead to a 1-0 lead in the second thanks to a wild pitch that scored Amani Larry. In the next frame, shortstop David Mershon launched a two-run blast to left – giving MSU an early three-run advantage.

Mershon’s blast was his fifth of the season after hitting none as a freshman last year.

Mississippi State had a chance to extend its lead in the early parts of the game. However, the Bulldogs stranded two runners on base in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

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Khal Stephen’s start cut short in sixth

Khal Stephen has often given Mississippi State length in his starts, which was shown in his 6.2 innings pitched at Texas A&M on March 22. That wasn’t the case in Wednesday’s start against the Aggies.

Stephen allowed only one run in his first five innings of work. However, Texas A&M got two runners on base to lead off the six, forcing Mississippi State to turn to its bullpen after 88 pitches from Stephen. The outing was his shortest since a May 3 start against Alabama.

Stephen was ultimately charged with three runs against the Aggies as both runners he left for relief pitcher Tyson Hardin came around to score.

Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: SEC tournament: Mississippi State baseball defeats Texas A&M